Over the past month of negotiating an entirely different system of education and way of being, I have found myself examining closely the role of the teacher or educator. The Indian school systems are based on a traditional educational model of power structures and hierarchy, to be quite blunt. Yesterday, at C. Ramchand Girl’s School, we discussed, over dosas and coconut chutney, how the principals or head masters and mistresses at governmental schools are chosen according to seniority (the number of years they had been at the school) rather than their credentials. And in trying to insert ourselves into this (rusty?) ladder, Remy and I have found it rather difficult to find a steady rung. Is it possible to be a teacher and a friend? In our own experiences, we know that it certainly is. To a large extent, what inspired this very project was our relationship with a professor at Middlebury College who proved that the clique scene of a group of students sitting around a fire at their professor’s cozy New England home, discussing the meaning of life, actually does happen. But how do we successfully translate this scenario into an environment that is so heavily based on structure and authority? At the boy’s school, it quickly became clear that the students were more interested in who we are as people than what we have to teach. And of course these two factors are, or should be inseparable. But in this world, it is not so easy. We have to set rules, maintain barriers, demand organization, and in some cases, dictate orders to accomplish what we have set out to do. The freedom, the creativity, the circular mode of pedagogy in which the teacher is a learner and the learners teachers, most often does not apply. During so many moments in our teaching, it is difficult to decipher whether the students do not respond to our questions merely because they do not understand our English or because they are nervous or afraid and not used to being addressed so directly. It is evident that demanding their response from a position of power is not the answer. This kind of force and infliction of fear will only reinforce silence, and if an answer is provided it is not a genuine or self-directed one. Without some trace of self-directed learning, real learning simply does not take place. It remains my belief that as teachers, we cannot expect our students to open up if we do not do so ourselves. The Middlebury professor that I mentioned above spends the first class of each semester introducing herself as a person so that her students know from what experience and perspective she, and more importantly her teaching, are coming from. Through my own education, I have discovered that you cannot deeply learn and understand a concept unless you somehow find a way to apply this piece of knowledge to your own existence on this earth. On a parallel note, can we only learn from someone if we consider (or are allowed to consider) to some degree, where that teacher is coming from? It is a difficult art to perfect. On this past fall’s visit to the new Middlebury Language School program in Alexandria, Egypt, we watched the program director attempt this balancing act. She was an Alexandrian, who had both trained and taught at the University of Alexandria, an institution based on a very similar educational system to India. To most people, she was “Docttore,” but the Middlebury students addressed her by her first name. She was particularly appalled when the Middlebury students questioned an elder professor’s authority by complaining that he was repeating material in class that they had already learned. “The professor was deeply offended,” she explained, “he does not want to teach these students again.” And in juggling phone calls between one student complaining about her boyfriend, and another trying to plan a trip to the desert while simultaneously trying to maintain her position as an academic professor and director, the struggle was at its best. How do we give enough power to our students without relinquishing all control? Better yet, how do we empower our learners without fearing that the teacher has been sacrificed? Each day our students show up with the brightest of smiles and an overflowing amount of eagerness in their hello’s and goodbye’s. In an effort to not slip off our rung in the ladder, to maintain our distance and therefore our authority in this foreign world of education, we simply return the smile and go on our way. But I can’t help feeling that I want something more; that these students deserve something more. That despite the language and cultural barriers there is room for real connection, and that only then, can the true learning and thus teaching take place. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Weekly Update This Friday, C. Ramchand Girl’s School will celebrate School Day, the last celebratory event of the academic year. Unfortunately, we cannot be there, as we will be teaching in Nalgonda. We have taken this opportunity to give the girls their first big digital storytelling assignment. They will document this event and then put together a short video, very much like the piece that Remy and I made about their Republic Day celebration. This week’s lessons were spent preparing the girls for the project. On Monday, the students reviewed the digital camera and went out into the “field” as photographers on a photo scavenger hunt! Remy and I put together a list of shots around campus that each group had to hunt for. For example, “take a picture of your favorite place on campus,” or “take a picture of a yellow flower zoomed in.” Once again, the girls seized control as we waited in the classroom, roaming around their campus and taking turns with the camera. Their hunt was a major success as they captured all the shots on the list as well as improving their skills with the digital camera! On Tuesday, we focused on shooting both audio and visual with the video camera as the previous week the girls had only learned audio (recording voiceover). We learned the 3 S’s of camera technique, straight, steady and smooth and then put them into practice on a video scavenger hunt during which the girls captured shots like “film a tree from its roots to its branches in one steady movement). The students returned to the classroom at the end of the day invigorated and excited, eager to learn more. On Wednesday, we honed in on the phases of video production, teaching the students about the pre-production phase (planning), the production phase (shooting/gathering materials), and the post-production phase (editing, putting together the materials). We went through the motions of the pre-production phase, identifying eight story topics like cultural events, and prizes that the students would focus on during the School Day Celebration. The reporters (story/voiceover) team will answer the 5 W’s (who, what, where, why and when) about each story topic as the photographer (still image) team captures photos that illustrate the topic and the videographer (moving image) team captures video for that particular topic. Again, we struggled with how much direction to give the students, but settled on the idea that, for now, the more instruction the better. The students will always have the freedom to document what attracts them in “the field.” We are greatly looking forward to meeting the students on Monday and seeing what they have captured. As we told them, since we cannot attend the event, it is up to them to share with us what they saw and heard! Even the teachers are taking a crack at documentation, bravely using a tripod to capture the event on video. Do stay tuned for more. _____________________________________________________________________________

This week, we showed the students the comment that Punam posted about their voiceovers:

“Dear Ganga Bhavani, Prema Latha, Rohini, Archana, Jyothi, These stories of your home and families are so wonderful. Your voices and drawings are clear and full of hope. You will achieve your dreams. Just set your mind to it. The pictures of your school, teachers and friends are bright and sunny. I hope to meet you in person some day. Keep up the great work, looking forward to more digital stories.”

And Ganga Bhavani wrote back:

“Dear madam,

Thank you very much for your kind email appreciation. Your words were of great encouragement. I will keep it up too. Please be in touch with me and guide me.

-Ganga Bhvani

All the girls were extremely excited to see the feedback and to know that people all the way across the world are interested in their stories. Some of them have even seen this blog on their own. Please continue commenting and direct your comment towards the students as we have encouraged them to respond to you and to share their thoughts on the blog as they like. Thank you all for your genuine interest and support.